Opinion: President Trump succeeded in uniting the country during State of the Union

by Boris Epshteyn, Chief Political Analyst

(MGN)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Boris Epshteyn formerly served as a Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign and served in the White House as Special Assistant to The President and Assistant Communications Director for Surrogate Operations.

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - Unity. That was the central theme of President Trump’s first State of the Union address.

"Together we can achieve absolutely anything," Trump said.

In this speech, the president sought to bring together not just the elected officials sitting in front of him, but the country as a whole. It worked. Seventy-five percent of Americans, including 72 percent of Independents, approved of the speech.

The president went beyond uplifting language and reached across the aisle in meaningful ways, when he discussed vocational schools, more paid family leave and lower prescription drug prices.

I guess House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi does not like working together since she sat stone faced.

When President Trump touted historically low unemployment among African-Americans, members of the Congressional Black Caucus looked as if he said the unemployment was historically high.

In one of the poignant moments of the speech, the president spoke of American heroes and monuments. Chants of "USA, USA" came from the crowd. Well, that was too much for Democrat Congressman Luis Gutierrez. He walked out of the room.

That is not just disrespectful toward our president, it is disrespectful toward our country.

What does Congressman Gutierrez have against the United States of America?

Here is the bottom line: the president succeeded in largely uniting the country for one night. Sadly, many Democrats chose party over country that night. Let’s hope that was just for show. The Democrats should come to their senses and accept the president’s honest offer to work together for the betterment of America.